Posts Tagged ‘detoxification’

During my fast I experienced some detox symptoms that included headaches, low energy, and strange bowel movements.

Luckily when it comes to detox, it’s not permanent.

After you move through detox you can see your energy soaring past the stars, have clearer skin, drop a few pounds, and just feel fantastic.

Two Approaches to Getting Through Detox

They are two ways of dealing with detox. One of them is to slow it down, while the other one is to speed up.

You have to keep in mind that when you are going through detox your body is trying to clean house. If you’re eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, your body will start to remove toxins that may have built up over time.

How to Slow Detox Down

There are a number of ways to slow down detox. You should consider slowing down your detox if you cannot handle the detoxification symptoms.

These detox symptoms may be taking place if you switched from a highly processed standard American diet to a high raw or 100% raw food diet.

If you want to slow detox down eat some cooked grains, or cooked vegetables. Essentially you’re introducing more heavy foods to give your body time to adjust to the high fiber, quick exit raw foods.

This in turn gives your body time to release toxins more slowly, and reduces the detox symptoms you might be experiencing.

How to Accelerate Detox

You can speed detoxed up by giving your body what it needs to continue cleaning itself. I like to think of detox as tunnel, the only way out is through.

Accelerating detox is a good strategy if you are feeling confident that you can deal with the symptoms and you want to get through it as quickly as possible.

Drink more water: To help flush toxins out of your body, drink lots and lots of water. Start your morning off with at least 500ml to 1 Liter of water. Drink enough water all day, it makes a big difference.

Take naps: If you feel your energy dipping while you’re detoxing, then by all means take care of yourself. Taking a nap is a great way to help detox along.

Move your body: Doing physical exercise is a great way to expel toxins. Try jumping on a trampoline, running, stretching. Getting everything moving is sure to help eliminate toxins more easily.

Move your bowels: This might seem a little obvious, but you’d be surprised how often we overlook this. It’s so easy to be caught up in our day to day activities and not take the time to slow down and take good care of our bowels.

Detox Plateaus

The more healthy food you eat, the more detox you may experience over time. Your current diet or lifestyle is likely not recent, so you will need to go through a few different levels of detoxification. Raw food detox doesn’t happen all at once, it’s more like peeling an onion.

You might have a “bout” of detox right after you change your diet, and then not have another detox episode until a few months down the line. These are what I like to call detox plateaus.

Hopefully you’ve learned how to make the most of your detox symptoms. And yes, this too shall pass!

Share your detox experiences here…

Currently going through detox? Let us know in the comments, and we will support each other as we continue to detoxify our bodies.

Master Cleanse Results & Experiences Video

My Experiences with The Master Cleanse

I definitely feel like I’ve been practicing my self control muscles. Honestly, I didn’t think I would make it this far on the fast.

I had set goals to do a minimum of 3 days, and that if I got past that then the 7 day mark would be an acceptable stopping point. The big goal is to keep going for 10 days.

Since I’ve already passed my 7 day mark, I’m just biding my time and listening to my body. The last two nights were a little tougher because I’ve been imagining food.

Remember kids, picturing food with your imagination is probably not recommended while fasting.

Luckily I’ve been feeling great physically. I experienced some skin break outs, but overall my skin is much smoother. My energy is usually high throughout the day, and my bowel movements have been pretty regular.

I’m definitely proud of how far I’ve gotten with this lemonade fast. The master cleanse was just as interesting of an experiment as I thought it would be.

Fasting is All About Releasing

One of the reasons fasting is so transformational is that it’s all about letting go. Letting go of the need to eat every few hours.

Letting go of beating yourself up for not being a perfect “eater”. Letting go of excess toxins in the body. Releasing excess weight, if that’s the case.

Letting go of habits that no longer serve you. Letting go of the need to “push yourself” with work, and taking time to rest if you need it.

With all of these metaphorical and literal types of release, it’s no wonder you feel light while fasting. Of course, it helps that you’re not eating anything heavy.

To celebrate my first fast, I’ve decided to let go of something else. My super long hair! I’ve been growing my hair out for awhile now, and I love having long hair.

But I’ve decided to let it go. I’m not shaving my head or anything, but getting a significant trim will really feel great.

I go swimming fairly often and I want to be able to swim without worrying about the time it takes for my hair to dry, or spending tons of time combing it out.

So if you see me in my next video with a shorter “hair doo”, you’ll know it’s another way for me to release something that might be holding me back.

Until next time…

I’ll be writing about my strategies and experiences with going off the fast in the next few days. I’m aware that stopping the fast is actually one of the tougher parts!

Dry Skin Brushing and Cellulite

Simply brush your thighs and any area where you experience cellulite, and see what happens. In effect you are giving the toxins that are stored in your thighs a way out.

No one wants to store that junk in their trunk, so let it out by brushing it off!

How to Dry Skin Brush

The brush itself looks a bit like a softer version of a horse’s brush, with natural bristles. Begin by brushing the soles of your feet (try not to giggle too much!) and move up your legs, always brushing toward your heart.

Continue brushing gently toward your heart, or against the direction of the hair on your arms. After brushing, your skin will begin to feel softer. It will also make it easier for you to sweat toxins out.

Ladies avoid the breast area, since it is a more sensitive part of the body.

When to skin brush?

Ideally you would do a round of dry skin brushing before taking a shower, or before a work out. This ensures that your pores are clear of any debris, so that your body can expel toxins (if any, I know you’re pretty clean already!).

You can do it daily for good measure. If you do a fast or a cleanse, it’s even more important to help your body eliminate toxins by dry brushing your skin.

Where to find a skin brush?

You can find skin brushes at your local bath or body shop. I’ve also found them in most natural health food stores. You can also get a Purest Palm Body Brush at Amazon.

Enjoy brushing yourself to smoother skin, and ultimately a cleaner body all around!

Personal Update

Yesterday was really tough. I have a feeling it’s because I wasn’t keeping myself busy enough, but I was definitely thinking about food more than the other days.

The lemon/lime sour taste is starting to get old. I decided to make myself a cup of herbal tea, since that’s considered an acceptable way to “cheat” during the fast. It was great because it really cut the lemon taste.

Though I did have a pretty severe stomach ache in the middle of the night. Probably brought on by drinking too much liquid before going to bed.

Last night was a little tougher food-wise. I made my boyfriend’s salad, but he ended up staying at work later to chat with some coworkers. Unfortunately that left me alone in the apartment with a delicious looking salad.

I kept myself busy by watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch episodes off youtube. There, I said it. Now you know where part of my witchy inspiration comes from.

Okay, let’s get right into the content…

Benefits of Cleansing Your Colon

If there was ever a point in time where you were not eliminating properly and regularly then there is a high probability that you’ve got junk in your colon’s trunk.

If you aren’t moving your bowels daily, preferably two or three times daily, depending on how many meals you eat, then you aren’t regular.

But you need to remember that all those days where you weren’t eliminating add up. Where does all that waste matter go? Well it can become dry caked-on fecal matter that just hangs out in your colon and causes you to gain weight and get sick. Lovely, huh?

That’s where colon cleansing comes in. There are a couple of colon cleansing options.

You can do home enemas. You can hire a hydrocolon therapist and have a colonic. Or, today’s suggestion is to try a salt water flush.

The Salt Water Flush Recipe

Here’s the key, you need to do this first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This is perfect while you’re fasting.

Mix 1 Liter (32 oz.) of warm water with 2 level teaspoons of unrefined sea salt. I used pink himalayan crystal salt. As long as it’s not iodized table salt, it should work.

Shake or stir well, then drink the entire container of salt water. It might be hard to down, but I found that the second time was much easier.

This technique is an ancient Yogic cleansing method. I’ve also seen Chinese people do this in the morning, during my trip to China.

Do not perform this cleanse for more than 7 days in a row. Then give yourself weeks or months between the next flush you perform. You do not want to cause an imbalance in your body, and you don’t want to become dependent on the flush to evacuate your bowels.

What To Expect After

The salt water’s saliency is the same as the body’s saliency. So none of the water gets absorbed into the body, and it just passes right through you and out through your colon.

It is recommended to wait about 30 minutes after you’ve drank the salt water before going to the bathroom.

You’ll start to feel your bowel moving as the salt water moves through you. You might even hear some gurgling sounds.

When you do go to the bathroom, the feeling might be reminiscent of diarrhea. Though those of you who have experienced a colonic will know it just feels like evacuating water through the colon.

You might need to go to the bathroom more than once, so only do this flush if you’ll have access to a bathroom nearby.

My Experience with the Salt Water Flush

Yesterday I tried the salt water flush for the first time, and today I did it again. I prepared my salt water and drank it first thing in the morning.

Then I made my first batch of lemonade, and got ready for my day. By the time I was done showering, it was time to evacuate the salt water.

It definitely felt good, kind of like I felt after I had a colonic. I went to the bathroom three times, and each time the matter got more solid and less watery. I gave myself gentle tummy massages that seemed to help, so give that a try too.

Hopefully this whole post hasn’t been too graphic with all of this “potty talk”.

Thanks for reading! I hope I’ve opened your mind to the concept of colon cleansing. Remember that there are many different ways of cleansing your colon.

My Fast is Flying by Faster Than I Expected

I know day 2 or 3 tend to be the toughest, according to my research and I’m just happy that they went by without much ado.

Yes there was definitely a moment when I almost ate a raisin off the floor. That 10 second rule must really be hardwired!

I continued to make some great lunches and salads for my boyfriend, and I wasn’t really tempted by any of the food. It was as if the food was like a toy. It was there for me to make colorful arrangements with, but not really for me to eat.

I noticed that my sense of smell also got sharper. Maybe that’s why Indian ladies who cook meals while they fast are so good at figuring out what spices to use.

Grocery Shopping while Fasting

I was running out of maple syrup, and the rest of the refrigerator was looking a little bare so I decided to go grocery shopping.

I was armed with my grocery shopping list, and I had a mission. But first, I had to stop by the ATM for some cash. That’s when I walked into a little corner store that stocks all kinds of junk food.

Seeing the junk food made me take a deep breath, and I actually started walking faster toward the ATM. After I got my money I was out of there faster than a black cat on Friday the 13th at 11:59pm.

My trip to the local farmer’s market was quite easy. I did stand in front of the leafy green vegetable section for a tad too long, but I hear looking at the color green is relaxing.

The next time you’re stressed out look at some leafy trees, and if that’s not possible then take out some lettuce or greens from your fridge. Instant relaxation. Ahhh.

See you tomorrow…

I plan on writing about some salt water flush concepts and experiences tomorrow. Hopefully you’re enjoying reading about my experience fasting for the first time. I’m not doing this for nuthin’ ya know. ;)

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